Thank you for joining us this morning. If you would stand we'll continue with our song service Isaiah chapter 30 verse number 19 says for the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem thou shalt weep no more It will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry when he shall hear it. He will answer thee It's good to be in the Lord's house today. Look forward to seeing what the Lord has for us brother marshes So would you open us and order prayer, please? Amen. Please join us in singing hymn number 210, Wonderful Grace of Jesus. ♪ Grace of Jesus ♪ ♪ Greater than all my sin ♪ ♪ How shall my tongue describe it ♪ ♪ Where shall grace begin ♪ ♪ Taking away my burden ♪ ♪ Scatting my spirit free ♪ ♪ For the wonderful grace of Jesus ♪ Higher than the mountain, sparkling like a fountain, those of which grace will even be. ♪ Wonderful race of Jesus ♪ ♪ Friendship to all of us ♪ ♪ Thine it hath been parted ♪ ♪ Safe to the other coasts ♪ ♪ Faith hath been torn asunder ♪ ♪ Giving me liberty ♪ Grace of Jesus reaches me. Wonderful, the majestic grace of Jesus. I'm full of sin. Higher than the mountain. Sparkling like a fountain. Most of it's grace for me. O come, let us adore Him, O come, let us adore Him, Chasing peace and heaven for all eternity, when the wonderful grace of Jesus reaches me. Oh, say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave Hey man, thank you, you may be seated. There is a blood that cost a life, that paid my way, death its price. When it flowed down from the cross, my sins were gone, my sins forgot. There is a grave that tried to hide this precious blood. But in three days I breathed again and rose to stand in my defense. So I come to tell you he's alive, to tell you that he draws every tear that falls. So I come to tell you that He saves, to shout and to proclaim that He's coming back for you. There is a blood that sights the blind, that heals the sick, The lonely finds. It has the power to free the bound. As chains, they fall upon the ground. So pour it out. cleanse my soul and let his liquid glory flow. Because it lives to make me whole, I owe my life, I owe my life. So I come to tell you He's alive, to tell you that He dries every tear that falls. So I come to tell you that He saves, to shout and to proclaim that He's coming back for you. So I come to tell you he's alive, to tell you that he dries every tear that falls. So I come to tell you that he sings, to shout and to proclaim that he's coming back for you. What can wash away my sin? Nothing. Nothing. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood. Nothing but the blood. There is a grave that tried to hide this precious blood that gave me life. But in three days, he breathed again and rose to stand in my defense. I come to tell you He's alive, to tell you that He dries every tear that falls. So I come to tell you that He stays, to shout and to proclaim that He's coming back for you. You would stand once again we'll sing hymn number 134 my anchor holds him number 134 sing it out on that first verse All my tempest driven soul I am peaceful for I know While we go the waves may blow I remain here safe and sure Back again Praise thy Shabbat well, for thy anchor holds, thy anchor holds. Mighty tides above thee spring, pearls of earth within the deep. ♪ And the tempest rises high ♪ ♪ Still I stare at the tempest's shock ♪ ♪ Oh, blazer, it's a rock ♪ ♪ And it holds my anchor holds ♪ ♪ For a mile, a single tear ♪ ♪ On my heart so small ♪ I can feel the anger crash as I kneel before you. Yeah. ♪ Troubles almost well must go ♪ ♪ Graves like billows are behold ♪ ♪ Came to speak to us straight ♪ ♪ For those who are the light of day ♪ ♪ I'm Christ, I can be bold ♪ Please remain standing as we go, Lord, in prayer for our offering this morning. Brother Potts, would you pray for us, please? Amen, thank you. Once again, you may be seated. You. I'd like you to stand once again. We'll sing hymn number 215, Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul. Hymn number 215. Oh, what a wonderful, wonderful day. A day I will never forget. After I wandered in darkness away, Jesus, my Savior, I met. ♪ Heaven and earth are full of His glory ♪ ♪ Heaven and earth are full of His glory ♪ ♪ Crowned in glory, revealed by scorn ♪ ♪ Born of the Spirit, defied from above ♪ ♪ Into God's family divine ♪ ♪ Justified fully through Calvary's law ♪ ♪ Oh, what a standing is mine ♪ Oh My sins were washed away, and my life was turned to day. Everything now in glory fill my soul. God of hope that will surely endure After the passing of time Eye of the future and head for shore Bearing the vengeance of life Then at the cross I believed, riches eternal and blessings supernal, from His precious head I can see. Heaven came down and glory filled my soul. Then at the cross the Savior made me whole. Amen. Thank you, ABC. On a hill neath a rugged tree, blood was staining the ground. Jesus' life was not taken, he laid it down. What a beautiful sacrifice, what an offering he made. Calvary's cross was the altar, sin's debt was paid. Given, given, oh the portrait of grace. Given, given praise the lamb that was slain hope was hidden inside the tomb heavy stone sealed the door it was our shame he took there our grief he bore buried Buried in the grave for three days. Buried, buried, praise the lamb that was slain. The glory of Sunday's dawn There was no sting of death Our Redeemer victorious Just as He said Risen! Risen! He has conquered the grave Risen! Risen! Praise the Lamb that was slain! Risen! Risen! He has conquered the grave! Risen! Risen! Praise the Lamb that was slain! Jesus! Jesus, name above every name. Jesus, Jesus, praise the Lamb that was slain. Jesus, Jesus, name above every name. Jesus, Jesus praise the lamb that was slain praise the lamb that was slain praise the lamb that was slain Well, praise the Lord. We asked Brother Scholl if he'd come preach for us. He pastors Faith Baptist Church in Spokane, Missouri. His lovely wife, Wanda, is here to keep him in line. We can thank her a lot. Brother Scholl, you come preach. We're gonna be in Job 23 this morning. While you're turning there, I am so thankful for the opportunity to be here today, and I don't take it lightly. I don't. My whole body's shaking right now. But I'm thankful. God has used me in some very unique ways in my life, in different places, different situations, and I know The Med Singer can relate to that. It's one of those things that you're just in awe of God at the end of it all. What God does and God can use a knothead like me. That's pretty amazing to me. So thankful for this church. We've been associated, I don't even know how you say it, we've been associated with this church for a good while. Just thankful for the friendships and a lot of times when I preach somewhere else, I'm going to a place where I know the pastor and that's it. And so it's nice to go to a church where I know a good bit of folks, that really helps to be able to come do that. But it's more than just that, it's that there are people here that I know have the same heart. And the same desire that we have certainly puts things at ease and puts things in perspective as well. And I'm just thankful for this church, what you stand for, how you love and support your preacher. This isn't a condemnation. Do it more. Love on him more. I know you're loving on him. Just keep doing it. Increase in loving on him. Amen. Amen. I want to read a few verses here in Job chapter 23. We'll start in verse number one. It says, then Job answered and said, even today is my complaint bitter. My stroke is heavier than my groaning. Oh, that I knew where I might find him. that I might come even to his seat. I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say unto me. Will he plead against me with his great power? No, but he would put strength in me. There the righteous might dispute with him, so should I be delivered forever from my judge. Behold, I go forward, but he is not there, and backward, but I cannot perceive him. On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot behold him. He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. But he knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth. as gold. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept and not declined, neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. Let's pray. Lord, we're so thankful for who you are. Lord, as we heard in Sunday school, you are good. Lord, it doesn't matter where we are, it doesn't matter our circumstances, you are still good. Thank you that we can rely upon that. Now this morning, as we look at this thought, I pray that you would guide and you would direct our time, that you would be glorified, that we would know it was you that worked and ministered to our hearts. Use me as you see fit to speak the words that need to be spoken. I ask in Christ's name, amen. In Sunday school this morning, As I mentioned while I was praying, I preached, God is good. Not a slogan. You know, it's not something we say to amp each other up. No, it's a fact. And it's something that we experience and we can experience and there's wonderful fruits of that. I won't go back and teach all of that. But this morning, I wanna preach this thought, God knows. I think about Job and his trial. All in one day, he lost all of his children, all of his wealth, all of his work, if you will, everything. And then sometime down the road, we don't know really for sure how long, he started losing, we would say, his health. He developed boils from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. And that would have been quite the agony that he would have been dealing with, but then his wife comes to him and says, Job, how much more of this are you gonna take? Job, why don't you curse God and die? Now, that could sound like condemnation, it could sound like pity, the Bible doesn't tell us, I don't know. I don't know, but I can tell you this, if my wife said that to me, boy, you're talking about hitting the bottom of the barrel. That would be kind of rough. But his response is so amazing. What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God and shall we not receive evil? And then he has these three friends that come, using that word loosely. He has these friends that come and attempt to minister to him. Actually, they do minister to him. They come and they sit with him for seven days. And I'll tell you this, sometimes in the ministry, you're faced with a situation and you don't know what to say. And I've just kind of learned over the years, when I don't know what to say, nothing is pretty good. So they came and they said nothing. They sat there for seven days. They were great friends. And then all of a sudden, they started talking. They weren't such good friends. They're condemning Job. They're talking about Job's sin. They're talking about his faithlessness and many other things that they would accuse him of. And they quite honestly didn't know what they were talking about. And so he calls them, or he says a few things about them. He says of them, you are miserable comforters. But my favorite thing that he says, he says, ye are the people and wisdom shall die with you. You ever met a know-it-all? There's your zinger for them. You are the people. Wisdom's gonna die with you. I think that's a pretty good one there. But after their speeches and accusations, we get to chapter 13, and a rather lengthy response from Job, from here until verse number 31, with one exception, of Bildad for one short chapter. But he doesn't really address what they said. I mean, he does, kinda. But really, he's just kinda grappling with this on his own. dealing with what he is going through. Chapter 13 in my life has, or I'm sorry, chapter 23 in my life has become a place that I run to frequently. I use this passage in sermons so many times, although I've never actually preached a sermon just on this passage here. And there's something that we need to understand about Job. Job was a human. Okay, he was just like you and I. And when you start off the book here, Bible tells us that he answers them. He goes and he approaches them. But the first thing that we find that Job does is that he seeks God. He has a desire to seek God, but before we get too far into his seeking God, let's look at his state. Again, verse number two, even today is my complaint bitter and my stroke is heavier than my groaning. Do you get what he's saying there is that I'm not even telling you as bad as it is. I'm groaning, but it's much worse than what you can even imagine. And that's something we always need to understand. One of those phrases that we will say is, I know what you're going through. Just be careful not to use that unless you do know what somebody's going through. Because sometimes that's insulting and hurtful when you do that. That's just a side point. That was totally free. But I want to look at the state of mind and the heart of Job through this. Go back to chapter six. And again, I love the description. I mentioned this in Sunday school. I love the descriptions in the word of God because we can look at those and we can say, yes, that's me. I get it. I understand what you're saying. Chapter six, if you look at verse number two, it says, oh, that my grief were thoroughly weighed in my calamity laid in the balances together. For now it would be heavier than the sand of the sea. Therefore, my words are swallowed up. Are you getting the idea of how he's feeling? For the arrows of the Almighty are within me. The poison whereof drinketh up my spirit. The terrors of God do set themselves in array against me." Are you getting the picture that Job is trying to draw? And then when you get again to our text, where he says, even today, is my complaint bitter. My stroke is heavier than my groaning. He's going through a whole lot. Listen. We're all human, and Job is a human. He's going through a whole lot emotionally as he's dealing with all of this, and he's going through this spiritual battle, he's going through this physical battle, but he's also going through an emotional battle as he's dealing with this. And it's an important thought here that Job is telling us about this, that we understand something, that he is being very honest about his situation. He's not just trying to button up the coat and say, I'm good. Gotta be spiritual. I gotta be that one. I gotta be that strong one. Hey, be real about hurt. Be real about hurt. It's okay. This is a pet peeve, if I can just share this, and probably somebody has said this, and I'll probably offend you, and I'm gonna go ahead and apologize. When a tragedy happens, there's always somebody that will say, I've gotta be strong. Show me that in Scripture. Show me that. You're gonna be searching. You're gonna be looking for a long time because I can't find it. I don't know that it's there. As a matter of fact, I find the complete opposite in Scripture. I think about Paul, 2 Corinthians chapter 12, in verse number nine. He is weak and he recognizes his weakness, but what is it that the Lord says to him? My strength is made perfect when added to your strength. No, no, no. My strength is made perfect in weakness. Paul's response to that is, this is kind of my version here, bring on the weakness. Because I want to experience the strength of God in the middle of this. Listen, Job is in a place where he has to come to a place of just reality, of everything that's going on, and he's not trying to put himself up as some great spiritual giant or somebody that is just emotionally strong, it can handle all of this. You read what he said, just the short verses that we've read up to this point. He's beside himself. He doesn't even know what to say. He doesn't even know what to do in the middle of all of this. Listen, if we are the one that is trying to be the strong one, we are not letting God use our weakness. So it's okay. It's okay to say, oh, I'm weak. But notice then in verses three through five that he kinda thinks out loud here for just a minute. Oh, that I knew where I might find him. That I might come even to his seat. I would order my cause before him and fill my mouth with arguments I would know the words which he would answer me and understand what he would say unto me What is he saying here? He has a desire to come and just to plead his case before God He would come and he says there I would order my arguments I kind of think of a lawyer that he would come and he would plead his case and say here's the situation here You know And if you go back to chapter number one, you know that God had a very high opinion of Job that he was somebody that did right. He hated evil and God honored him because of his faithfulness to him. But ultimately he says that I would come and I would just lay it out. I would just bring it all before him, before the Lord and to show it to him. You know, there's a term that I use frequently in our church that our church is familiar with. And it's this, unload the truck. You know what I mean by unload the truck? Sometimes we just need to come to God and just unload. You know when you go to unload the truck, you unload it all. And sometimes it's kinda ugly. I loved it, we just recently moved my folks to where we are there in Spokane, and just this last week, we're able to get all of their stuff finally there, and we pull up to the storage unit, and there was several of the men and families that were there. One of the men said, unload the truck, preacher. Somebody listened to something I said, that's great. What does that mean? Get it all out, get it all out. Come to the Lord and unload the truck, and that's what Job is saying here. He wants the questions answered. There might even have been the question, why? But he says there in verse number five that he comes and he knows he can bring the questions and he can cast his cause before him. Listen, we've gotta learn from that, that is something that we can do, it is something also that we should do. We should come to him and we should have that time where we just come and unload that. Too many times we're left in a place where we just internally reflect. We stop and we think about something and we maybe even meditate on it, but we don't really take it to God. You know when you take it to God, sometimes it's kind of ugly. We all know the term ugly cry? Yeah. Sometimes we take things to God and it's kind of ugly. And you know what, that's okay. I see some of the biggest giants that did that. One of my favorites, 1 Kings chapter 19. Elijah has just defeated You think about what just happened. He just defeated and killed the 450 prophets of Baal. Is that not a spiritual giant right there? And then one crazy woman made him run. Ahab goes home and says, you would not believe what old Elijah did. And Jezebel sent a message to him, said by this time tomorrow, you're dead. And what did he do? He ran. And he found himself in a cave. And while he was in the cave, God approached him and said, what doest thou hear, Elijah? That's another sermon there, isn't it? What doest thou hear, Elijah? He says, I'm jealous for you, Lord. He says, there's all of these that have turned against you. There is nobody left. I, only I, am left. And he would repeat that again because he would sit, God would reveal some things to him and God would come back and he would say again, what doest thou hear, Elijah? And he says, I'm jealous for you. You know, when I look at what Elijah said, it made no sense. It wasn't even true. But in his brain, it was true. He was looking at his predicament. He's being hunted down by a crazy woman. And so now he's in the place where he's thinking about that, and he's thinking about the difficulty of that, and he's forgetting about who God is and what God can do in the midst of that, even though he just killed 450 prophets of Baal. And he's in that place, that mental state, where he's sitting there imagining things that are not true. Listen, when we get to a place where we don't know and we don't just come and unload the truck to God, the devil's gonna take note and he's gonna be coming and he's gonna be tapping on your shoulder and he's gonna say, hey, let me tell you something. And let me tell you this, everything that the devil's gonna tell you is gonna be a lie. And he's gonna come and he's gonna tell you things that are partial truths, which means it's a lie. And he's gonna come and confuse you and he's gonna come and deceive you and he's gonna come because he wants to destroy you. Listen, if we would just go and simply unload the truck, we would find very quickly that God is good and God is gracious and God listens to us. Because we find here that Job says, if I go, I know he's gonna answer. Because that's his nature. That's who God is. He knew there would be hope, there would be encouragement. In your hurt, seek God. In your hurt, unload the truck. Don't become distant from God. But then Job gets to a place, and again, he's very honest. He's very honest about where he's at in verses eight and nine. Remember before he said, oh, if I could find him, I'd unload the truck. I'd just pour it all out to him. But notice what he says, verse eight. Behold, I go forward, but he is not there. And backward, but I cannot perceive him. on the left hand where he doth work, but I cannot behold him. He hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him. You see, Job is now faced with this dilemma. In his circumstance, in what he is dealing with right now, he's saying, I can't see God. I don't even see him. You ever been lost? You ever been separated from somebody? We went to Germany this last year, and we went to the Eagle's Nest, one of Hitler's places. That's something great to do when you're on a missions trip. But we went there, and we went up the elevator, and we were walking together, and we were there with the slates, and my wife and I went, and we kind of wandered up. We went up the mountain there a little ways, and just enjoyed that, and we get back down. She says, I've gotta run to the restroom real quick. It's like, okay, well, I'll wait right here. Right here is different for men than it is for women, by the way. Okay, right here is right here, okay? For her, right here is right here. So I kind of moved my feet. I mean, it could have been more than three and a half feet, but anyway. She came up and she couldn't find me. Here we are in a foreign country and we can't find each other. I go to the slates, I say, have you seen Wanda? And they're like, no, we hadn't seen her in a while. And you know, sometimes you just get that feeling. You know, some crazy Nazi came and kidnapped my wife. You know. So I'm thinking all these things. I'm like, I gotta find her. She's not up there. I'm looking everywhere. I say, y'all stay here. Y'all keep looking. I'm going down. And so I go down the elevator. And that's a whole long process just to do that. And I get down there. And there she is sitting on a bench there. And when I come up to her, I gotta confess here a little bit, I was mad. I'm like, we have been looking all over for you. And she did that thing that women do that make you feel really stupid. She started crying. Come on. She starts crying and I'm like, okay, sorry, I didn't mean whatever I said. I was afraid. Couldn't find her though. Man, that's a horrible feeling. Job here is saying, looking. I don't see you, God. Looking everywhere, God. He wanted to see God in the circumstances, everything that he was dealing with. And so he looks in every direction. He looks forward, he looks backwards, he looks to his left, he looks to his right. We could say that he looks to the future, he looks to the past, he looks in the present. We could say all kinds of application to that. But he's looking everywhere and he's saying, I don't see God, I can't find him. And he has this part of him that's asking this question, where is God in all of this? I can't see, where is God in the midst of all of this? It's important that we try and understand the mind and will of God. I think that's important for you and I as believers. We ought to be seeking to understand why God does the things that he does. I don't mean in a way of, well, why God? I mean in the way of God, I want to know you, I want to know your will, I want to understand the way that you are. But the truth is that there are many times that we will not understand. And we as humans, we don't like that. We kind of reject that sometimes, that we may not know why. We may not know all the ins and outs of something, and we get frustrated with that, and sadly, many times, somebody will turn away from the Lord because of that. But we ought to try, and we ought to seek. But we have to be careful in this place, again, because that's where the devil comes, and he lies. Again, Elijah, he came to the conclusion he was the only one left. He went up into this mountain. Now, I don't know that he was seeking God. He went up in this mountain just to hide himself. But we find here that Job kind of snaps himself out of it. Says, I'm looking forward, looking backward. I'm looking on the left hand, I'm looking on the right hand, and I don't see you, God. But the greatest comfort isn't in him knowing where God is. The greatest comfort is that God knows where he is. He says, but he knoweth the way that I take. There is a comfort in knowing the nature of God. We know the nature of God, we can see two things about him. God knows where we are. God is not touched. He doesn't look at our infirmity and our affliction and just say, I don't see that, I don't feel that, if you will, I don't understand that. No, God understands it. Jesus was tempted in all points, just as we are. We have to understand the thing about God is that he knows exactly where we are. Say, I don't see him. No, he knows where you are. And can I tell you according to what my Bible says, that if you're a believer and you've called on the Lord, he's also right there with you. And he's promised that he will never leave you and that he will never forsake you. He's also promised us that he would have a comforter that would be there. And he's there with us. He comes alongside us. He puts his arms around us and he comforts us and he leads us and he guides us and he's right there with us. The hurt sometimes can make us think that God is not here. The hurt can make us think sometimes that God does not love me. Listen, can I assure you that God is right there. He knows where you are. Preacher, I don't see him. He's there. He knows. He knoweth the way that I take. What a comfort. He is familiar with the road you are on. He knows all of the idiosyncrasies of the road. He knows the direction that the road is going. He knows every one of the bumps and turns in the road, and that ought to be a comfort to us. The infinite, almighty, all-powerful, gracious, loving God knows exactly where I am. The nature of God is to never leave us, Not only that, though, what does he say at the end of the verse? He knoweth the way that I take. When he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Not only does he know, please get this, not only does he know where I am, he's doing a great work. What is the greatest thing that you can be on this earth? A doctor, a lawyer, a preacher, an evangelist. The greatest thing that you can be on this earth is what God is making you to be. And he is trying. Job says, when this is all said and done, I'm gonna come forth as gold. Listen, we know the end of the book. We know that everything was restored and then some to Job. Job didn't know that. Job didn't know that. And Job is here with these boils all over him, with his worthless friends there that are trying to talk to him and convict him and challenge him. His wife has told him to curse God and die. We could say that he was pretty much alone, couldn't we? And as he's there alone and he's scraping these boils that he has on him and he's going through all of this, he comes to the conclusion that God is trying me and when he is done, I will come forth. as gold. There's a whole lot difference between a body that is covered in boils than gold. Wouldn't you agree? And he says, that's the end. Well, well, well, Job, what's that going to look like? How do you know? I don't know. But I know that God is doing it and that God is going to accomplish something that is going to be great. God is doing a job, a work in Job and Job accepts that. I want to say that again. God is doing a work in Job, and Job accepts that. Many times we fight what God is doing. But my Bible helps us a little bit. Both Peter and James kind of tell us, some guys that know a little bit about trials in life. 1 Peter 1.7, that the trial of your faith is more precious than gold. James 1-2 counted all joy when you fall into diverse temptations. Joy? Yeah. Why? Because God is doing something. God is trying to work something. So then we can accept the things that go on in our life, and though we don't understand them, though the hurt is real, like Job, and the hurt is really there, God is still doing something. God has not resigned from being God. He is still God today. And as long as he is God, and by the way, he's always going to be God, and as long as he is God, he's going to be doing a work. That's how we can count it all joy, because God is doing something. But because God knows, Job will stay true to him. Verse number 11 and 12, notice what he says. My foot hath held his steps, his way have I kept and not declined. Neither have I gone back from the commandment of his lips. I have esteemed the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. There is a tone in these verses that this is what I have done and this is what I'm gonna keep doing. The circumstances that he has gone through have not changed what he is going to do. Because if it were me, I might have changed when my wife says, why don't you just curse God and die? That'd be a hard one to swallow. But Job says, this is what I've always done, so this is what I'm gonna keep doing. even in spite of everything that he was dealing with. He says, I'm going to stay right with God in verse number 11. I'm not gonna let the hurt, the groaning, remember from verse number two, I'm not going to make that cause me, I'm not going to allow that to cause me to abandon what is right. In verse number 12, he says that I'm going to stay true to his word. I am so heartbroken by how many people that they go through a difficult time and they say, well, I'm just not sure about this book. Oh, listen, your circumstances have no bearing on the validity of this book. And so it was true before the circumstances. Can I tell you this this morning? It's going to be true after the circumstances. And can I tell you again, 10 years down the road, when you start understanding some things a little bit more, it's still going to be true and it's still going to be right. So we might as well just rely upon it. You might as well just lean upon it. And you might as well be like Job. I esteem the words of his mouth more than my necessary food. We all gotta eat, right? We all want to eat, right? We like to eat, but we have to have food to exist. Listen, if we had the same mentality, we would say, I've gotta have this book to exist. Oh, it better be true, it better be right, because I'm putting everything in on this book. Say, but what if God sees fit to take your wife from you? This book is still true. What if God sees fit to take all of your children from you? This book is still true. What if God were to take all of your possessions from you? This book is still true. We ought to hunger after it. And the more we deal with those things, the more, the more we ought to get into it. Because you're gonna find things that are very relatable. Even today is my complaint bitter. My stroke is heavier than my groaning. Relatable. See, the more you start understanding about this book, the more you see how it applies to your life, the more God can use it. And I say this, and I'm done. Don't let the devil take from you in darkness what God has revealed to you in the light. So important. Or stay true to what He says. Your head's bowed. And your eyes closed. God knows. He knows exactly where you are. He knows where you are physically. He knows where you are emotionally. He knows where you are spiritually. And can I just assure you of something? He's doing a work in you. Let Him. Trust Him. Stay true to Him no matter what the circumstances are. Commit to Him today. Lord, I pray now that you would take this invitation time. Use it however you deem necessary. Speak to hearts and continue to work. And Lord, as you minister, I pray that we wouldn't ignore you, that we'd respond as you have led us during this time. Well, thank you for what you do. We ask this in Christ's name. Stand with me if you would. We ought to take some time and meet with God. As we sing, God's dealing with your heart. You need to come, you come. Have Thine own way, Lord, have Thine own way. Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Hold me and make me after Thy will. While I am waiting, yielded and still, at Thy own will. Have thine own way. Search me and drive me, Master, today. Wider than snow, Lord, wash me just now, as in Thy presence humbly I bow. Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. Wounded and weary, help me I pray. Power, all power, surely is Thine. Touch me and heal me, Savior divine. Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. Hold o'er my knee, absolute sway. Fill with Thy Spirit ♪ Till all shall see ♪ Christ only, always ♪ There He can be ♪ At Thine own way, Lord ♪ At Thine own way Thou art the potter, I am the clay. Roll me and make me after Thy will. While I am waiting, yielded and still, at thine own way, Lord, at thine own way. Search me and drive me, Master, today. Whiter than snow, Lord, wash me just now. As in thy presence humbly I bow. Have thine own way, Lord, have thine own way. Wounded and weary, help me, I pray. Power, all power, surely is Thine. Touch me and heal me. Save your divine. Have thine own way, Lord. Have thine own way. Hold, Lord, my being. Absolutely sway. Fill with my spirit, till all shall see Christ only, always living in me. Yeah. you Well, you know, the prayer time is as important as preaching time. So invitations may go a little longer, but we want God to do all his work in our lives. I want to thank the Scholz for being here. He's going to preach again this afternoon. Brother, if you want to go. Let's go ahead and stand. Again, ask that you'd remember to lift up Sister Lori and her family before the Lord, asking for God's grace upon them. Tuesday night, church members will be observing the Lord's Supper, and so there will be no Wednesday night service this week. There was a ladies meeting, we just canceled that too. There was a Saturday night cantata, we're canceling that also. But next Sunday, we're having church, okay? So I'm telling you, choir, you minister to my soul in such an amazing way. And I just wanna thank you for it. And looking forward to next Sunday and what God will do. Visitors, it's good to have you. Thanks for coming. Let's go to Lord and word of prayer. Lord Jesus, we love you and we thank you for your great love for us. Thank you that we can know heaven is our eternal home. We don't have to doubt, don't have to question. Thank you. We pray, dear God, that you would go before us as we break for lunch, that it might be a great time, and Lord, bring us back together at one o'clock for the afternoon service. Be with Brother Scholl as he preaches. Thank you for sending this willing servant of yours to come and to preach. Thank you for his church. Lord, I pray that you bless them for giving up their preacher to be able to come and minister to us. Thank you, thank you for that. Go before us, keep us safe, have your will done. Our lives and our hearts will give you honor and glory and praise for all that you do. We ask these things in your wonderful and most holy name, amen. Yeah.